Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Ahead of the release of their highly anticipated debut album Deep Down Happy on 19 June, Sports Team today share new single and video for ‘Going Soft’, reminding us about the euphoric highs of live music – albeit from a screen – filmed by friends and fans over the last year of the pandemonium of life on the road.   The six-piece have built a large, fiercely loyal and fervent fanbase; coming up on the back of word of mouth live hype, drawing round the block queues to early gigs at The Five Bells and Moth Club, and celebrating a Kentish Town Forum headline at the end of last year. ‘Going Soft’ captures the essence of a band waiting to get back out there doing what they love, and what they do best. Sports Team are a band of six singular characters, who have been described as one of the most raucous, electrifying and chaotic acts in the UK. Here’s The Thing, the first single lifted from their debut album was chosen as Greg James’ Track Of The Week, following an Annie Mac Hottest R

Kenyan-Norwegian singer, songwriter, producer, and visual artist Lil Halima releases her brand-new single titled ‘Glue’ via Island Records today.  At only 21-years old, Lil Halima has been nominated for two Norwegian Grammy’s and the coveted Nordic Music Prize. She caught the public’s attention with a stunning COLORS session last year (invited back for their A COLOURS live stream), and released the Brown Girl Diary mixtape, which documents her romantic relationships and search for identity, through the prism of a young woman of colour growing up in rural Norway, in a village of only 4000 people. Her first 2020 release, ‘Glue’ has dream team writing credits from Lil Halima, Nathaniel Warner (Mahalia, Sinead Harnett), Anders Kjaer (Dagny, Bendik, Ary) and George Moore (Nao, Snoh Alegra, Kwabs), who has also produced the track. “Commitment is hard, and it always get to the point where I’m scared the other person preferably would always want us to be glued together. You know, do

Singer, songwriter and producer Jeremy Zucker debuts the video for his latest single, “not ur friend,”  The video is directed by Hayley Bowman and edited by Jeremy alongside Stefan Kohli. “not ur friend,” which was co-written in collaboration with Max Martin’s MXM team and produced by Zucker, is taken from his highly anticipated debut album, love is not dying, out later this spring. Of the inspiration behind the video, Jeremy says, “We really just wanted to make a fun, lighthearted video, which is something I don’t get the opportunity to do often. We experimented with new colors and aesthetics to give it a different feeling and look. Given the sentiment of the song, it felt like the right time to take a bit of a different approach to the video too.” This summer, Zucker will embark on his North American and European “love is not dying” Tour, which includes stops at New York’s Terminal 5 on June 18th, Los Angeles’ The Novo on July 17th, two stops at San Francisco’s The Fillmore o

Just before we self-isolated, NOISY took over the launderette at the Barbican, filming their latest video ‘Oi (ATM)’, a track which scraps with money matters talk, and cements NOISY’s high-octane energy and explosive sonic, in a spinning, nostalgic visual.   Earlier this month, the trio from Worthing headlined a sold-out Camden Assembly to fan frenzy, which followed the release of their debut EP ‘Press Space To Play’, featuring single ‘Bring The Drums Back,’ an ode to homegrown dance styles in the UK. The band are holed up in their studio in Worthing doing what they do best and creating for the foreseeable, but look forward to re-arranged live dates at Truck Festival, 110 Above, Neighbourhood and Liverpool Sound City. Dates below. Comprised of singer/rapper Cody, guitarist Connor and producer Spencer, the band is the culmination of several years of hanging out at skateparks. They’ve been Noisy for the past year and a half, an 18-month period that’s seen them build a makeshift

OPEN LETTER TO FANS "In a way it seems fitting that we’re trying to release our debut in the midst of a once in a generation global pandemic. We’ve tried as hard as we can to keep everything on track. But on a lot of sound advice, and to take pressure off all the people helping us deliver the album — we’ve taken the call to reschedule the record to June 19, and live shows, until June. Playing for you lot means everything to us, and we’ll be back doing it as soon as we safely can. All tickets and pre-orders will remain valid.   Keep buying music by the artists you love; it means the world. We’re seeing out the foreseeable in a studio in the West Country, getting onto new music. If you want to write to us, we’ll try and reply to every letter we get. Address here: PROPAGATION HOUSE, EAST LODGE, NORTH TAMERTON, EX226SE   Anyway, it’s going to be hard for a bit, for music, and for everyone. Support your local scene, and look out for each other, we know you will.   All the

SPORTS TEAM WILL RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM ‘DEEP DOWN HAPPY’ ON 19 JUNE 2020 NEWS FOLLOWS OPEN LETTER TO FANS AMIDST CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC ALBUM IN-STORE TOUR RESCHEDULED FOR JU NE In a way it seems fitting that we’re trying to release our debut in the midst of a once in a generation global pandemic. We’ve tried as hard as we can to keep everything on track. But on a lot of sound advice, and to take pressure off all the people helping us deliver the album — we’ve taken the call to reschedule the record to June 19, and live shows, until June. Playing for you lot means everything to us, and we’ll be back doing it as soon as we safely can. All tickets and pre-orders will remain valid. Keep buying music by the artists you love; it means the world. We’re seeing out the foreseeable in a studio in the West Country, getting onto new music. If you want to write to us, we’ll try and reply to every letter we get. Address here: PROPAGATION HOUSE, EAST LODGE, NOR